Metode Pembelajaran Bahasa: The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching

THE ORAL APPROACH AND SITUATIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHING

A.     Background

Ø  Pioneer

The most prominent figure of oral approach are Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornby. They attempted to develop a more scientific foundation for an oral approach to teaching English than was evidenced in the Direct Method.  The result was a systemic study of the principles and procedures that could be applied to the selection and organization of the content of a language course (Palmer 1917, 1921).

Palmer, Hornby and other British applied linguists from the 1920s onward developed an approach to methodology that involved systematic principles:

1.      Selection (the procedures by which lexical and grammatical content was chosen),

2.      Gradation (principles by which the organization and sequencing of content were determined),

3.      Presentation (techniques used for presentation and practice of items in a course).

Then, one of the most active proponents of the oral approach, George Pittman was developing an influential set of teaching materials based on the situational approach. The main characteristics of Situational Language Teaching were as follows:

1.      Language teaching begins with the spoken language. Material is taught orally before it is presented in written form.

2.      The target language is the language of the classroom.

3.      New language point are introduced and practiced situationally.

4.      Vocabulary selection procedures are followed to ensure that an essential general service vocabulary is covered.

5.      Items of grammar are graded following the principle that simple forms should be taught before complex ones.

6.      Reading and writing are introduced once a sufficient lexical and grammatical basis is established.

Ø  Year

The origins of this approach begin with the work of British applied linguists in the 1920s and 1930s. Beginning at this time, a number of applied linguists developed the basis for a principled approach to methodology in language teaching. Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornby were the most prominent figures in British twentieth-century language teaching. (Richards and Rodgers, 1986).

The oral approach was the accepted British approach to English language teaching by the 1950s. and it continues to be widely used in the 1980s.

Ø  Reason

Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornby attempted to develop a more scientific foundation for an oral approach to teaching English than was evidenced in the Direct Method.  The things that become discretion to develop this approach are Vocabulary and Grammar control.

Vocabulary Control

One of the first aspects of method design to receive attention was the role of vocabulary. In the 1920s and 1930s several large-scale investigations of foreign language vocabulary were undertaken. The research came from two quarters,

1.      There was a general consensus among language teaching specialists, such as palmer, that vocabulary was one of the most important aspects of foreign language learning.

2.      The increased emphasis on reading skills as the goal of foreign language study in some countries. Vocabulary was seen as an essential component of reading proficiency.

Grammar Control

Parallel to the interest in developing rational principles for vocabulary selection was a focus on the grammatical content of a language course. He was directed toward developing classroom procedures suited to teaching basic grammatical patterns through an oral approach. Palmer viewed grammar as the underlying sentence patterns of the spoken language.

B.      Approach

Theory of language

Ø  Structural View

The theory of language, “Structuralism” as the characteristic of Situational Language Teaching is Speech was regarded as the basis of language and structure was viewed as being at the heart of speaking ability. Pedagogical descriptions of the basic grammatical structures of English which developing the methodology are Word order, structural words, the few inflexions of English, and content Words, will form the material of teaching language.

“Our principal classroom activity in the teaching of English structure will be the oral practice of structures. This oral practice of controlled sentence patterns should be given in situations designed to give the greatest amount of practice in English speech to the pupil”. (Pittman 1963: 179)

Ø  Interactional View

One of the distinctions of Situational Language Teaching is knowledge of structure must be linked to situations in which they could be used. It has a close relationship between the structure of language and the context and situations in which language is used. Language was viewed as purposeful activity related to goals and situations in the real world.

Theory of learning

Ø  Process-oriented theory

The theory of learning underlying Situational Language Teaching is a type of behaviorist habit-learning theory. It addresses primarily the process rather than the condition of learning. According to Palmer’s point of view, there are three processes in learning a language:

1.      Receiving the knowledge or materials,

2.      Fixing it in the memory by repetition,

3.      Using it in actual practice until it becomes a personal skill.

Ø  Condition-oriented theory

Like the Direct method, Situational Language Teaching adopts an inductive approach to the teaching of grammar. The meaning of words or structures is not to be given through explanation in either the native tongue or the target language but is to be induced from the way the form is used in a situation. The learner is expected to deduce the meaning of a particular structure or vocabulary item from the situation in which it is presented. The learner is also expected to apply the language learned in a classroom to situations outside the classroom.

C.      Design

Ø  Objectives

To teach a practical command of the four basic skills of language approached through structure

Ø  Syllabus Model

Oral Approach and situational language teaching using structural syllabus and word list

Ø  Types of Learning and Teaching Activities

OA & SLT using situational approach to presenting new sentence patterns and a drill-based manner of practicing them

Ø  Learner Roles

1.      Learner is required simply to listen and repeat what the teacher says

2.      Learner giving respond to question, asking each other question and command

3.      Learner has no control over the content of learning

4.      More active participation is encouraged

Ø  Teacher Roles

1.      The teacher function is threefold:

a.      As a model

b.      Setting up situation in which the target structure is created

c.       Modeling new structure for student to repeat

2.      Teacher more like skillful conductor of an orchestra

3.      Teacher is required to be a skillful manipulator using question, commands, and other cues to elicit correct sentence from the learners 

4.      Lessons are hence teacher directed

5.      Teacher sets the pace

6.      Students are given more of an opportunity to use the language in les controlled situation, but the teacher is ever on lookout for grammatical and structural errors that can from the basis of subsequent lessons.

Ø  The Role Of Instructional Material

Oral approach and situational language teaching is dependent upon both a textbook and visual aids.

D.     Procedure

Classroom procedures in the Situational Language Teaching vary according to the level of the class, but procedures at any level aim to move from controlled to freer practice of structures and from oral use of sentence patterns to their automatic use in speech, reading and writing. The lesson plan of the teacher in oral approach and situational language teaching might consist of these parts:

1.      Receiving the materials or knowledge

2.      Revision (to prepare for new work if necessary)

3.      Presentation of new structure or vocabulary

4.      Oral practice (drilling)

5.      Reading of material on the new structure or written exercise.

The technique used in presenting new language items is oral drilling to create the situation. Teaching procedures (activity) to be used with Situational Language Teaching consist of:

1.      Listening Practice. The teacher obtains his student’s attention and repeats an example of the patterns or a word in isolation clearly, several times, probably saying it slowly at least once.

2.      Choral imitation. All students together or in large groups repeat what the teacher said.

3.      Individual imitation. The teacher asks several individual students to repeat the model he has given in order to check their pronunciation.

4.      Isolation. Teacher isolates sounds, words or groups of words which cause trouble and goes through techniques 1-3 with them before replacing them in context.

5.      Building up to a new model. Teacher gets students to ask and answer questions using patterns they already know in order to bring about the information necessary to introduced the new model.

6.      Elicitation. The teacher using mime, prompt words, gestures, etc, gets student to ask question, make statements or give new examples of the pattern.

7.      Substitution drilling. The teacher uses cue words to get individual students to mix the examples of the new pattern.

8.      Question-answer drilling. The teacher gets one student to ask a question and another to answer until most student in the class have practiced asking and answering the new question form.

9.      Correction. The teacher indicates by shaking his head, repeating the error, etc., that there is a mistake and invites the student or a different student to correct it.

E.      Strengths and Weaknesses

Ø  Strengths

1.      Oral approach develops students' speaking skills, along with grammar control.

2.      With-habit behaviorist learning theory, students will practice constantly over and over and it can be a personal skill which can be applied outside the classroom.

3.      With the emphasis on grammar control, students can automatically set the basic sentence structure and patterns not only in speaking skill but also on writing skills.

4.      By using a situational syllabus, the teachers will develop their creativity by looking at the situation in the classroom.

5.      Oral technique drills greatly assist students in visualizing something, so they are easier to remember new word (vocabulary) in the learning process.

Ø  Weaknesses

1.      It will be boring if the learning process performed repeatedly.

2.      Writing was limited to the grammatical structure and reading was limited to new vocabulary

3.      It will not be a guarantee that students who exercise repeatedly could develop language skills outside the classroom when environment only using the mother tongue

4.      It takes quite a long time to learn one material because they have done repeatedly until the material is actually capable of being personal skills.

5.      Students will be afraid to argue because they are required to avoid the pronunciation and grammar errors.

6.      Students who are less able to use the target language will be limited in issuing his opinion.

 

REFERENCES

Richard, J.C and Rodger, T.S. 1986. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A description and analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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